In the assembling of a product or a semi-finished product, apparatuses for picking and placing workpieces of such products are widely used. A typical such apparatus includes a suction device and at least one hollow body coupled to the suction device. The hollow body may pick a workpiece at an end thereof under a suction force provided by the suction device, and then place the workpiece into a container. Generally, an internal breadth of the hollow body is slightly smaller than an external breadth of the workpiece, thus allowing the workpiece to be picked precisely and steadily.
However, when the workpiece is, for example, a lens module, and the container is, for example, a barrel, the internal breadth (diameter) of the hollow body is closely approximate to the external breadth of the workpiece, and an external breadth of the hollow body is closely approximate to an internal breadth of the barrel. As a result, air inside the barrel may be compressed thereby increasing an atmospheric pressure inside the barrel during the workpiece being moved into the barrel, such that pressure imbalance is generated between the exterior of the barrel and the interior of the barrel. This makes it difficult to orient the workpiece precisely. In addition, when the hollow body moves out of the barrel after placing the workpiece, atmospheric pressure inside the barrel may immediately decrease, whereby pressure imbalance is generated between the interior of the barrel and the exterior of the barrel. As a result, it is difficult to move the hollow body out of the barrel.
What is needed, therefore, is a device capable of picking and placing a workpiece into a container, which overcomes the above-mentioned problems.